What If Heaven and Hell
by Katy M VT
Summary: What if the demons found them first.  Spoilers for On the Head of a Pin.  One shot.


What if the demons found them first?

Sam, Dean, Ruby, and Anna found an old abandoned barn after failing to find Anna's grace where they thought they would.

"I say we head back to the panic room," Dean said.

"What, forever?" Ruby snapped. The panic room did her zero good, and it wouldn't protect the rest of them from the angels.

"I was just thinking out loud," Dean defended himself, realizing it wasn't really a solution, but refusing to admit that to Ruby.

"You call that thinking?"

"Hey, hey," Sam said, coming over from his watch at the door. He wished Dean and Ruby could get along, but figured he shouldn't hold his breath. They were just starting to go at it.

"Um, guys," Anna said tentatively. She wasn't sure whether or not she should interrupt, but this was important. "The angels are talking."

"What are they saying?" Sam and Dean asked together.

"It's like a loop. They keep saying, 'Dean Winchester gives us Anna by midnight, or we hurl him back to damnation.'"

"What?" Dean asked in a panic. He remembered every minute of his forty years in Hell and to say that he wasn't looking forward to going back would be a massive understatement.

"Anna, is there some kind of a weapon that works against angels?" Sam asked.

Dean looked at Sam in perplexity. He couldn't believe Sam would want to kill angels. Angels were supposed to the good guys. He didn't feel that way, he thought they were dicks, but Sammy had always been into the whole angel thing.

"No, nothing we could get to," Anna answered.

"Great. What are we going to do?" Dean asked.

Sam remembered something Ruby had said earlier. "I have an idea. We should bring the angels and the demons here at the same time. They fight. We get out of the way."

"Sounds pretty risky," Dean said.

"Got a better idea?" Sam asked.

Dean didn't, so he asked, "How do we get them here?"

"We'll split up. The angels will probably come to you in a dream. Ruby will burn her hex bag and offer to lead them to the angel, in exchange for letting us go," Sam said.

"I don't want to tangle with Alistair," Ruby protested. Especially not for an angel, she added silently to herself.

"This is what we're doing," Sam said to Ruby. He didn't know why but she always seemed to eventually go along with whatever he wanted.

"OK," she acquiesced as Sam knew she would.

Dean was a little surprised. He couldn't believe that Ruby would put her butt on the line for them like that. Plus she had saved Anna from Alistair earlier and given them hex bags. Every once in a while doubts crept up in his mind and he thought maybe Ruby was OK.

Dean and Anna headed out to the car to hang out. Dean knew that he would have to fall asleep for an angel to come to him in a dream. "Dean, I know what you did in Hell," Anna said.

"I can't talk about that," Dean said, shifting his eyes away.

"I'm just saying that when you can, there are people who care about you," Anna assured him. She reached up and kissed him.

"What was that for?" Dean asked.

"Last night on earth, all that," Anna shrugged.

"You're stealing my best lines," Dean complained and then returned her kiss. He lifted her into the back seat of his baby and they proceeded to steam up the windows.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Ruby headed about a mile from the barn and burned her hex bag. She knew that Alistair would have all of them on radar, just waiting for a hit.

She didn't have to wait long, she blinked her eyes and Alistair was standing in front of her.

"Kind of surprised to see you out in the open like this," Alistair said.

"Desparate times," Ruby answered. She was having trouble keeping the fear out of her voice. Alistair had been her torturer when she had first died. Nobody took pride in his work like Alistair.

"That they are. Did you want this back?" he asked, holding up her knife. He had always wondered how she had got her hands on such a weapon. It had been lost for centuries, only reappearing when Ruby had escaped out of the devil's gate. She couldn't have had it with her in Hell.

"Keep it," Ruby said, eyeing it nervously. "I'll give you the angel, if you let me and the Winchesters go."

"Interesting," Alistair responded.

Sam was waiting in the barn, setting things up so it would be get away friendly when the big fight went down.

"Alistair was right, where that slut Ruby is, Sam won't be far away." Sam spun around to see two demons in the doorway. This wasn't supposed to happen until morning.

He backed away, but the demons were faster and stronger. They dragged him out of the barn.

Dean got up and went back to the barn to check on Sam. He walked in and there was nobody there. He head a flapping of wings and turned to see Uriel.

"I'm dreaming aren't I?" Dean asked, remembering the plan.

"Well, I didn't have a choice since you're hiding from us like cowards," Uriel sneered.

"Anna has her grace back, so you should leave her alone," Dean bluffed. Couldn't make it too easy or they would get suspicious.

"That would be quite a trick, since I have it right here," Uriel said as he pulled out what looked like a test tube with some crazy radioactive blue Kool-Aid in it. This was what all the fuss was about? Seriously?

"Well, why don't you give it back, then," Dean said.

"Can't. She fell."

"How? By thinking for herself?" Dean asked, noting the irony of it all. This was the same argument he and Sam had had all the time growing up. Sam had wanted Dean to think for himself instead of always following their father's orders. He was beginning to come around.

"Where's the girl?" Uriel asked.

"Sorry, find another one," Dean said, knowing Uriel wouldn't stop with that.

"Give her to me, or I'll throw you back in the pit myself."

"Go ahead," Dean said, wondering if he was taking it too far. He didn't think Uriel could hurl him to the pit from his dream anyway.

"You're just crazy enough to go aren't you?" Uriel was beginning to develop a reluctant respect for this particular mud monkey.

"What can I say? I don't break that easy," Dean responded, deciding he would tell Uriel when he next asked. He was getting tired of the dance.

"Yes you do. You just need to know where to apply the right pressure."

What was he talking about? Was he going to torture him like Alistair? Dean started sweating, and tried to remain calm. This was just a dream after all.

"Give us Anna, or when we find you, and we will eventually, it won't be you we kill, but your brother," Uriel threatened.

Angel or no angel, Dean wanted to kick this guy's ass. Sure, him and Sam hadn't been getting along very well since he had come back, but nobody threatened him and got away with it.

"Last chance," Uriel said, or I start searching right now.

"Fine," Dean said and gave Uriel their location. "Anna won't be here until morning, though," Dean said, sticking to the plan.

"Fine. We'll be here first thing in the morning," Uriel promised and disappeared.

Dean woke up next to Anna. "Our part is done," he said.

"We found one of them," one of the demons said as they dragged Sam to where Alistair was negotiating with Ruby.

"Well, we don't really need you anymore, do we?" Alistair asked Ruby, as he took the knife and swung it down killing her.

"Ruby!" Sam yelled.

"Where did you find him?" Alistair asked the demons, ignoring Sam.

"Old barn, about a mile away. No sign of the other one or the angel girl."

"They'll be back. Let's go wait," Alistair said, and took possession of Sam. He held the knife tight up against his throat as they walked behind the other two demons leading the way.

"We're going to have so much fun," he whispered into his ear. "I hope your brother takes his time showing up."

When they reached the barn, Alistair threw Sam down and tied him to a beam. He took the knife and cut him across the abdomen. "I've never worked with a real live body before. I hope I don't accidentally kill you before Dean gets here."

Sam just stared up at him. He hoped Dean had managed to get the angels to come, but he hadn't done his part in readying the barn.

"Did you know time was different in Hell? One month equals ten years," Alistair said. He decided to just leave it at the one cut. If Sam started screaming he might warn away Dean and the girl. He would just use psychological torture instead. Sometimes that could be just as satisfying.

If that was true that meant that Dean had been in Hell for forty years. Sam refused to believe that. Demons lie.

"I started off with your father," Alistair continued. "Had him on my rack for almost 100 years. You know what the difference was between your father and your brother?"

Sam didn't answer. He wasn't going to get drawn into Alistair's game, whatever it was.

"Your father didn't regret selling his soul for Dean. Always said he would do it again. Dean, on the other hand, regretted saving you, almost from the beginning. He hated you for being the cause of him down there. It's how I broke him."

Alistair had stopped talking then, waiting to see if Sam would ask. He did. "What are you talking about?"

"I got him to torture souls by cloaking one so that it looked like you. He jumped at the chance to pay you back for his circumstances."

"Shut up," Sam said. He wasn't sure if he believed that or not. Dean didn't feel the same way about him as he had before he went to Hell. That much was for sure.

Alistair put his hand over Sam's mouth and cut him on the chest. Sam screamed behind the hand, but the sound was muffled efficiently enough so that Alistair wasn't worried about it being heard outside. "That was always Dean's favorite place to cut you. He said you were selfish, and he wanted to see if you had a heart."

Sam could almost believe that. Dean had called him selfish on several occasions.

"Sam," Dean called as he and Anna walked in. He froze when he saw Sam tied to a beam with Alistair leaning over him with a knife. "Leave him alone," he growled in a low voice.

"Sure, I'll trade you Sammy for the girl," Alistair offered.

"Sorry, can't do that," Dean said, wondering how he was going to get them out of this one. Where were those stupid angels?

As if in response to his question, Castiel and Uriel materialized in front of him. "Why don't you leave the girl to us?" Alistair asked and stood up.

"You know who we are and what we will do to you," Castiel said. "You should leave now."

"No, you should leave," Alistair countered.

Uriel didn't understand the concept of talking to demons. They were even lower on his scale than mud monkey humans. He approached the other two demons and set about eradicating them. Castiel walked up to Alistair to do the same. He was surprised when nothing happened.

"Sorry, looks like I'm stronger than you," Alistair noted and knocked Castiel to the floor.

Dean took advantage of the good versus evil fight to get to Sam. He cut the ropes away from him. "Come on," he said and helped Sam to a standing position.

Alistair was performing an angel exorcism. White light was shooting out of his eyes and mouth. Dean let go of Sam and hit Alistair with a piece of lumber.

In the confusion, Anna ran up to Uriel and grabbed her grace from around his neck. She threw it to the ground and stepped into it. "Cover your eyes," she yelled. Sam and Dean covered their eyes. Sam was tempted to look, but when he remembered Pamela, he overcame the temptation.

Alistair stepped up to her, wondering if he could get some of that power for himself. He ended up being zapped away as Anna disappeared herself. He ended up at a wedding reception in the middle of a circle of women doing the Macarena. He ran out screaming. There was Hell and then there was Hell.

"Looks like you guys lost your girl," Dean said.

"This isn't over," Uriel said menacingly.

Castiel laid a hand on his arm and they both disappeared.

Dean looked down at Sam's bleeding torso. "Are you OK?"

"Yeah," Sam answered, refusing to think of what Alistair had told him. He wasn't going to confront Dean with it. He knew that much. He didn't think he could handle if Dean confirmed it.

Dean looked around. "Where's Ruby?"

"Alistair killed her," Sam said, remembering her for the first time since it had happened. He would miss her. Ruby had held a really important place in his life while Dean was gone.

Dean wasn't sure what he should say to that. He couldn't say that he was sorry. He had always hated that bitch, even if she had come in handy once in a while. He had always felt that she was manipulating Sam in some way even if he couldn't figure out how. Luckily Sam broke the silence.

"Can you help patch me up?" He wouldn't ask Dean about what Alistair said, but he needed to have Dean be his big brother again, even if just for a few minutes.

"Sure," Dean said. Sam hadn't asked him for anything since he'd been back. It felt good to feel needed.

The End


End file.
